Meat Preservation
Sausage
What is a Sausage?
• Word sausage is from word Salsus
– Salsus means salt or preserved
• Is a chopped or comminuted and seasoned meats that is
formed into a symmetrical shape
• Can contain non-meat ingredients
History of Sausage
• Reason for discovery of America and trade with Asia
• Used to be “Bags of Mystery”
– Historically were made from by-products and left-overs
• Modern sausage is made from lean trimmings or low value whole
muscle cuts
– Skeletal muscle, Cheek, jowl, and head meat from beef pork and poultry
Sausage Varieties
Consumption of Sausage
Top Dinner Sausage Consuming Cities – 2009
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1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. San Antonio/Corpus Christi
4. Houston
5. Baltimore/Washington, D.C.
6. Chicago
7. Dallas/Fort Worth
8. South Carolina
9. San Francisco/Oakland
10. Philadelphia
Source: Information Resources Inc.
Based on total retail sales, excluding Wal-Mart, for the 2009 calendar year. – National Hot Dog & Sausage
Council
Classifications
• Degree of grinding or chopping
– Coarse ground vs. emulsion or fine chop
• Amount of cooking
– Cooked vs. uncooked
• Amount of smoke
– Smoked vs. non-smoked
• Amount of water added
– Water added vs. no water added
Classifications
• Amount of curing
– Cured vs. not cured
• Amount of fermentation
– Fermented vs. non-fermented
• Amount of tissue moisture
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Fresh: non-smoked and uncooked
Smoked: fresh and cured
Cooked: fresh and cured smoked and non-smoked
Cured: smoked and non-smoked
Dried: semidry and dry
Meat loaves and specialty items
USDA Classifications
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6.
Fresh
Uncooked smoked
Cooked and smoked
Cooked
Dry and semidry
Luncheon meat, loaves and jellied
1. Fresh
• Fresh, uncured meats used
– ≤ 3.5 % binders and extenders allowed
– ≤ 50 % fat
– ≤ 3 % water/ice
• Pork, beef, and most recently chicken
• Must be refrigerated and thoroughly
cooked
1. Fresh
• Breakfast sausage
• Whole hog sausage
– Prepared from fresh/frozen meat from pig in such
proportions as are present in a single animal
1. Fresh
• Italian Sausage
– Uncured, non-smoked sausage
– 85 % of formula must be meat and fat
– ≤ 35 % fat
– ≤ 3 % water/ice
– Salt, pepper, fennel and anise used
– If labeled as “Italian Sausage” must contain only
pork
• Any other species must be indicated on label “Chicken
Italian Sausage”
2. Uncooked Smoked
• Same types of products as fresh, but smoked
for color and flavor
• Must be cooked before consumption
• Includes: fresh smoked pork sausage
– Same as fresh pork but smoked
• Fresh smoked kielbasa
– Highly seasoned Czech sausage
– Coarse ground pork with beef or mutton added
– Smoked but not cooked
3. Cooked and Smoked
• Frankfurter, bologna, knockwurst, and similar
products
– Comminuted, semisolid
– One or more kinds of raw skeletal meat and poultry
meat
– ≤ 35 % fat
– ≤ 10 % added water
– Smoked or non-smoked
– ≤ 15 % raw or cooked poultry meat
– Can contain by-product and variety meats
– ≤ 15 % partially defatted pork or beef fatty tissue
4. Cooked
• Liver sausage and Braunshweiger
– Fresh/frozen pork and/or beef trim
– Pork liver or beef liver or veal liver or combination
– Can contain: beef/pork by-products, pork skin,
sheep liver, goat liver if labeled
– Must be at least 30 % liver
– Cooked
5. Dry and Semidry
• Produced by fermentation
– Fermentation-conversion of sugar -> lactic acid
– Backslopping
– Lactic acid starter culture
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Lowers pH
Preserves
Inhibits growth of spoilage bacteria
Provides characteristic tangy flavor
– Fermentation chamber
– Dried carefully: smoked sometimes
5. Dry and Semidry
• Semidry (Summer sausages)
– Fully cooked in smokehouse
– Semi-soft due to bacterial
fermentation
– < 50 % moisture content
• Dry (Salami)
– Light smoke, if any
– Drier, firmer, more expensive
– < 35 % moisture content
6. Lunch meat, loaves, jellied
• Various products
• Luncheon meat
– Cured and cooked
– Comminuted meats
– ≤ 3 % water/ice
• Meat loaf
– Loaf shaped comminuted meat
• Scrapple
– Must contain at least 40 % meat and/or meat
products on fresh weight basis
– Cereal and/or soybean flour or meal allowed
6. Lunch meat, loaves, jellied
• Bockwurst
– Uncured
– Cooked or uncooked
– Meat, milk or water, and may contain eggs and
vegetables
– Must be at least 70 % meat
– Usually pork
6. Luncheon meats, loaves, jellied
• Head Cheese
– Mixture of meats held
together by a gelatin
– Used in salads, sandwiches
and as hors d’oeuvres
Sausage Ingredients
Sausage Ingredients
• Animal Tissues– A. Meat – skeletal muscle (trimmings) beef, pork, poultry
etc.
– B. Meat by-products or variety meats (Non-skeletal,
smooth muscle-tongues, lips, tripe, etc.)
• Most high quality sausage are void of by-products
• Water (moisture)
– Usually in the form of ice
– Helps cool product (avoids friction) and adds weight
Why are sows used for Sausage?
Sausage Ingredients
• Curing Ingredients
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A. Salt
B. Spices – plant leaves, seeds, stems or roots
C. Flavorings – man made
D. Color developers – nitrites, ascorbates
• Sweeteners
– Non meat ingredients
• Sugars, honey, etc.
Spices
• Regional Sausages
– Many sausages are regional because that is where spice is grown
– Even with trade, spice regions produce the best sausage
• Spice trades
– Reason for discovery of Asia and America
Spices
Product
Spice
Breakfast Sausage
Sage
Italian Sausage
Fennel
Polish Sausage
Garlic
Bratwurst
Onions
Color Enhancement
Paprika
Sausage Ingredients
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Binder and Fillers
– A. Binder – Binds water and helps emulsify
– B. Filler – Binds water, lowers costs (decreases
meat contents)
– C. These products are usually (soy, cereals, and
milk proteins)
Binders/Extenders
– Hold meat together and allow it to form
• Starch
• Soy
• Collagen
• Onions
• Rice
• Skin
• Phosphates
• Non-Fat Dried Milk
Sausage Casings
• Casing determines shape of sausage
• Natural Casings
– Made from stomachs, intestines and bladders
– Mostly from pigs and sheep
• Manufactured/Artificial
– Made from cotton linters, paper pulp and beef
hides
Sausage Formulation
Meat Properties for Sausages
• Binding Index
– Relative amount of salt soluble, heat
coagulable protein (SSHCP)
– Bull meat has an arbitrary BI set at 100
• Color Index
– Measures the relative amount of
myoglobin
– Bull meats CI set at 100
• Moisture: Protein Ratio
– Moisture,% / Protein, %
Salt Soluble Heat-Coagulable Proteins (SSHCP)
• Proteins with polar and non-polar properties
– Actin and Myosin
– Polar region attracted to water
– Non-polar region attracted to fat
• Help to emulsify fat and water
– Bologna, hot dogs are true emulsions
– Emulsion = mixture of two immiscible liquids (water and oil/fat)
• Extracted from muscle tissue by salt, chopping , and mixing
• Heat-coagulable
– Harden to form a matrix during heating cycle
Emulsification
• Fat = dispersed
phase
• Water =
continuous phase
• Solublilized
proteins associate
with fat and
water
Target Fat %
• Desired fat % can be achieved by mixing of two sources
• Sausage Makers Square
Innovation
• Blueberry sausage
– Fresh breakfast sausage
– Includes whole ground blueberries
• Adds sweetness
• Reduces fat content
• Adds ingredient rich in antioxidants
Product Development
• Select type of sausage
– Fresh, dry, semi-dry, cooked, cooked smoked, uncooked, lunch
meat
• Select ingredients
– Salt, sugar, nitrites, spices….
• Select 2 meat sources
70:30 Beef Trim
50:50 Pork Trim
80:20 Beef Trim
75:25 Pork Trim
90:10 Beef Trim
Exotic (Deere, Elk, etc) Trim at 93:7
85:15 Lamb Trim
90:10 Lamb Trim
Sausage processing
Grinding
Coarse Grind
• Whole muscle pieces or trim
• Meat chunks of variable shape and fat content
are ground to from uniform cylinders of fat
and lean
Mixing
• Fat and lean cylinders are
tumbled in a mixer to give
uniform distribution of fat and
lean particles
•Mixing also aids in extraction
and coating of fat particles
with salt soluble proteins
Chopping or Fine Grinding
• Chopping
– Used for greater particle size reduction and
greater degree of emulsification
Chopping or Fine Grinding
• Fine Grinding
– Fine grinding plate
Stuffing
• Stuffers extrude sausage
emulsion into casings
Linking and tying
• Tying occurs via thread,
string, or metal clips
• Linking can occur
mechanically or by hand
twisting or drawn by string
• Large items are tied or
clipped with a hanging tie
for suspension from smoking
rod
• Commercial frank machines
can stuff and link 600 to
3600 lbs per hour
Smoking and Cooking
• Smoke house performance depends on
– Dimension
– Time cycle
– Temperature range
– Thermal requirements (BTU)
– Relative humidity
– Air flow
– Air flow pattern
– Smoke Density
Chilling
• Product can be chilled by refrigeration or cold
water shower
• Large volume operations using using
continuous systems will rely on a brine chilling
solution applied by dipping or spraying
Sausage Defects
Gelatin Pocket or Fat Cap
• Problem with emulsion
formulation or imbalance of
myosin and collagen (Too low
content of lean meat in formula)
• May also be result of too rapid
heating or too high temp during
cooking
Too much connective tissue
Ground To Fine
THE END